I ordered this month of YA Chronicles specifically because of the theme “Can you feel the love tonight?”. If you reference music OR the Lion King then I am in, they referenced both. I was really hoping there would be something Lion King related in the box but no such luck.

So obviously as it is a February box it was to do with Valentines day or Love at least.

First thing being the wonderful soy candle from The Book Hangover (made exclusive for YA Chronicles) called feysand which I would probably love more if I had of read any of A Court of Thorns and Roses series. It smells AMAZING none the less.

The next thing was the card that tells me all about the items in the box (which let me know about the candle). Also a YA Chronicles bookmark to add to my collection!

Before my favourite part of the box was a little pin (which the card informed me is from The Fault in Our Stars), I know I am very behind as I haven’t read it or seen it. Maybe one day I will love this pin.

Now my FAVOURITE part. This is the most AMAZING tea I have ever gotten. It is a custom tea blend from West End Tea Co. called Amortentia! Yes this is a Love potion tea with rose and vanilla on a base of green tea.

Last but not least, the book. Valentine by Jodi McAlister. A YA novel about 4 teenagers all born on Valentines day and someone is coming to kill one of them, but they don’t know which! That’s a rather short version of the synopsis, it sounds interesting.

We know my favourite part already but I will probably not purchase another box because I am not in a financial position to and also I really only LOVED half of it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I could not finish this! I watched the movie and thought meh then I really pushed myself to read it and I just can’t.

2. A Popular Book or series that every one else seems to hate but you love.

The Divergent trilogy. I am unsure if the series is hated but a lot of people really did not like it, I LOVED IT.

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn ppl for spoilers) OR an OTP that you don’t like.

Paradise series by CJ Duggan. You can tell at the start of Paradise Road who she will end up with but I kept reading and kept praying that she chose differently.

4. A popular book Genre that you hardly reach for.

Horror. If you know me you know I am such a sook so I don’t get into horror, it makes me tense.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.

Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter. I can’t really explain this, I know she is supposed to be badass and that’s why her and Harry end up together. I don’t like her character and I think her and Harry are a bad match.

6. A popular author that you can’t seem to get into.

Shakespeare. I know so many people rave about his work but as I am illiterate I find it so so difficult to read

I don’t know if it counts as a trope but miscommunication in YA relationships. Does no one know how to communicate!? Talk to people, not hard.

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.

The Hunger Games. I cop so much shit for this because it is dystopian like Divergent so I should love it. I have zero interest in reading it, I saw parts of the first movie and didn’t like that either so.

9. The saying goes “The book is always better than the movie”, but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?

As much as I love the illustrations in the books, Winnie the Pooh is that much cuter when you hear the voices of the characters.
So my 2017 reading goals are actually pretty simple. My goodreads goal is to read 50 books this year, start small. 2017 will be the year of re read., I feel I need to read Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia this year, along with other books I have already read but years ago.
Also this year I will listen to some Audiobooks, as I have never listened to a book. I may start small with Tom Delonge narrating the Lonely Astronaut on Christmas Eve.

From a young age my parents read to me and encouraged me reading. When I was young I got these books one every week or month and the had different levels of difficulty. Some of these books are still some of my favourite stories, like Even Steven and Odd Todd.

All through primary school was the book nerd, while everyone went out to play and run around, I would sit in the library or in the shade and read. Although I got picked on in primary school for just being me and for reading all the time, it was the least drama I have ever had in school.

I honestly wish I would have stayed like that through high school. Throughout high school I read the books I needed to for school and some books but nowhere near the amount I used to read.

After high school I read pretty much no books for 2 years. At the start of 2013 I ordered a book in the bookstore called Love Beyond Life. This book is based off the music of Angels and Airwaves, which if you know me, is my favourite band. This is the book that got me back into reading!

Since 2013 I have been reading much more than the never I used to read after high school. This year I got a novel called Poet Anderson … Of Nightmares and this book I could not put down, I didn’t want to go to work because I wanted to read the rest, I had dreams about what would happen next. This is what a good book will do to you and I have really missed that feeling.

I had a goal of reading 50 books in 2016 (which was highly ambitious). I have only made it halfway through that (but that is still 25 books more than 2012!), considering the year I have had I have forgiven myself. I have set the same goal of 50 books for next year and I hope to achieve this.

I really believe reading a book and escaping into another world does wonders for mental health (well, mine anyway).

The purpose of this blogpost is to give a honest review of the Charm With Me club subscription box. I first saw this box on Instagram as I follow a lot of accounts that focus on books. The first charms I saw were Harry Potter, so obviously I was excited. I received my first Charm With Me box in September. The September theme was Defense Against the Dark Arts. As it was my first box it was slightly more expensive as my bracelet come with it, I chose the double wrap Lace. For Defense Against the Dark Arts they had simple silver charms with spells on them and it was beautiful, I loved it.

The next month October, was Disney Princess themed. I do love Disney! The Disney princess was Cinderella and the box came with 4 Cinderella themed charms and 2 blue decorative beads. It was great value but also a little too girly for me.

November was Fantastic Beasts theme and I was so excited! I received the box, still excited as I am a big Harry Potter fan. I opened the box and I was instantly disappointed. It had 3 charms in the box, which is the smallest amount I have received since subscribing. The main charm (Magical Congress of the United States of America) is a beautiful charm and is so well made. I don’t know what I expected, I just expected more. Maybe I have too high of expectations?

I have already paid for my Star Wars themed box I believe, and I will be stoked to get it. I think after that I will be cancelling my subscription as it is quite expensive in $AUD. Charm with Me does have the greatest customer service from a online store that I have ever received.

So if you follow me personally you might know that my motorbike was stolen. I know some people might think “it’s just a chook chaser” or “its not a race bike”. THAT DOESN’T MATTER. They stole my motorbike!

This motorbike was bought brand new in 2007 in Dalby and taken from Maidenwell in the last week. This is the perfect bike and not just for me, its perfect for most of my family as we have the short gene, it’s perfect for teaching people to ride. This bike went everywhere. It was our bike. We always said we were never going to sell it and we weren’t.

This was the bike that people would learn to ride on, it wasn’t too powerful but you could still do small jumps and have a little fun. If you have ever met me, I am like my father, I love 2 wheels! I was so excited to be able to go to Manar Park again next year cause my ute should be going again then. I am absolutely devastated. This bike had sentimental value also. It had a hole in the guard from me like smashing a stick through on a ride one day, it has stickers near falling off cause they have been there for like 7 years.

This is my bike. I am so upset that it is gone. I am still so shocked that there are people that are such scum that they take from working families to fuel a drug habit. This is why I hate drugs, but that’s another story. I don’t actually have the words for how I feel but if you have heard anything about this year for me. This is the last straw.

I just felt like sharing, I hope you guys like it. (Sorry about photo quality, some photos are quite old).

Since I turned 16 and got my septum ring (much to my mothers disgust, and shes not the only one) I knew that was a way I wanted to express myself. Since then I have gotten many more piercings, dyed my hair like every colour and FINALLY started my sleeve.

I found out the more piercings I got, (I had 3 piercings that were not my earlobes by the time I finished school) the more me I felt. When I lost my diesel fitting apprenticeship, I basically went out a month later and got 2 more piercings as I was allowed ear piercings at this new job. By 18 I had 6 piercings not in my earlobes. In October of the year I turned 18 I got a small tattoo of the name of my grandmother that I never met, nanna Joy.

A month after I turned 19 I finally got to get my lip pierced! After waiting for 7 years and because I had a week to heal it before I had to go back to work. I was finally so so happy with how I looked. But something I have had the entire way through is judgement, jokes and people telling me I looked like shit. I already then felt 10 times better about myself.

Somewhere in that time between finishing school and 19 I started stretching my ears too. I did stretch my ears really slowly over like 5 years. I finally made it to 10mm in both ears in 2013. I also had finger piercings (yeah, more than one, stupid. I know this now) first in my right hand. Which was incredibly stupid because it was not only my hand but the hand I used the most. I got another in my left hand the year after, somehow thinking it would be better. I ripped the first one out by accident because of where it was, the second one got almost ripped out twice before I took it out. These 2 piercings, a surface tragus piercing and an anti tragus are the only piercings I no longer have. The surface piercing and anti tragus grew out.

I got my tongue pierced for my 20th birthday (so its 3 years old now). I now have 3 holes in each earlobe, a septum ring, a tongue ring, 2 lip rings and 2 belly piercings. In my left ear I have a rook piercing, a lobe piercing further up and an industrial bar (or scaffold). In my right ear I have a helix piercing, my snug and my tragus pierced. Guess you could say I fell in love with piercings, I do want more but I actually don’t have anywhere else I want pierced. I also have a peace sign tattoo behind my right ear.

I knew I want tattoos for pretty much my life, my dad has 2 half sleeves so I felt it would be accepted. Its not really accepted but who cares. I knew from since before I was 18 that I want one sleeve and it was to be music related. Music is actually my life, people don’t seem to believe me when I say it. Also there is only 3 artists I want to be tattooed by (so far) and they are all in QLD! I have followed these artists for years and I know the quality of what I am getting.

My first bigger tattoo is by Chris Bartlett (artist portrait on my insta) from Gladstone. I got this tattoo while he was a guest at Shinko tattoo in Brisbane. This tattoo is a Blink 182 tattoo that I chose from design he had already drawn and basically just trusted him to pick the colours. He is a great artist and I trust his judgement.

My second larger piece was done by Mitch13 (artist portrait on my insta) from White Tiger Tattoo at Noosa. I chose the colours for this piece and the quote as it is a tattoo for my sister in law who committed suicide. I love the rose he drew, I actually expected it to look different but it turned out better. I can’t wait to get another tattoo from Mitch as I love his work so so much.

The third bigger piece I got was an Angels and Airwaves tattoo. Also by Chris Bartlett, I actually did not know exactly what I was getting permanently on my body until the morning of this tattoo. I knew I wanted this tattoo to be about the song The Adventure, we went through a globe, a suitcase etc and I decided the We Don’t Need To Whisper guitar of Toms was a great idea and I trusted Chris to make it amazing. He did. I trusted his judgement on the colours and placement too. This is my favourite tattoo and I just end up loving it more and more.

So thats 2 artists that I love who I have been tattooed by, the only other artist I must be tattooed by is Mitch Love.

Yeah I cop shit for being me. Something people don’t seem to realise though is that I feel 10,000 times better than I did before I had tattoos and piercings.

I am not a fashion blogger but I am great at showcasing my personality. As you may know I did Queensland Youth Parliament 2 weeks ago, this post is about how I kept my personality in a somewhat stifling environment. For example the dress code in Parliament house forbids shoulders like we still live in the 1800’s.

I had to buy clothes for Youth Parliament as my everyday dress is a t-shirt and jeans. I knew while looking for outfits that I couldn’t just buy new. New is expensive and also mostly the same as what everyone else will wear. While 90% of my wardrobe is black, I couldn’t just stick to black in this case. Most of my Parliamentary wear was purchased at Alice in Arcadeland, my local vintage store which I recommend highly if you are in or near Toowoomba.

Day 1 sitting in Parliament, I tried my best for Blair Waldorf. Plain white dress shirt (from nowhere I remember?), and a plaid skirt (vintage). Team this with black stockings, red shoes and a bow headband and instant Blair.

Day 2 at Parliament House had to be fancy because we were meeting the Governor of Queensland after Parliament was done for the day. On this Wednesday I wore a check shirt (from Jay Jays, mens section) a bowtie and my ¾ sleeved blazer (from Crossroads). I also wore what someone described as grandpa pants (vintage), which if you have seen the new Ghostbusters myself and Holtzmann wear grandpa pants perfectly! Worn with an R.M.Williams belt and closed in heels.

Day 3 was the simplest day in outfits. I wore my vintage Chistian Dior suit with a black dress shirt and flats.

Day 4 last day in Parliament, also the day the PIE committee bill was up for debate. The PIE committee colour is red so most of the PIE committee had on red for this. On this day I wore simple black dress pants (from Crossroads), a black singlet, flats and a Minnie Mouse jacket (vintage) which was originally part of a costume, I promise it was fancy enough for Parliament. I don’t have a photo of just me on this day, sorry.

Attitude is an amazing thing, if you let it be. If you don’t have a good attitude it can be terrible, for your health, for the people around you and for the world.It may sound dramatic saying a bad attitude can be terrible for the world, but it’s true. Today I was reminded of this when someone said “good luck” in response to the fact that we have to start somewhere with the war on drugs. “Good Luck” basically says this person has no hope that things can work. I have experienced this before when telling people to recycle or even think about their own health. “No one else cares, Why should I?”. I have heard this exact sentiment from SO MANY PEOPLE! Imagine for a minute that every person who has said that exact phrase actually cared, imagine how much of a difference that would make. Imagine if people thought (like I do) “If there is 100 people out there that do this too, that’s a difference!”So before you think “no one else cares, why should I?” Just remember that I care and you can be someone that changes the world just by thinking positively.

People say it often that age doesn’t matter, I pretty much always disagreed because I have an amazing family and family friends that matured with age like humans are supposed to. I have recently learnt that everyone else in the world is different to these humans I grew up with. The humans I grew up around made their mistakes same as everyone, but they were also smart enough to learn from their mistakes. To learn what they wanted in life and they try to spend as little time as possible with those not facing the same reality.

I should clarify that my understanding of maturity is not necessarily liking who you are but not hating yourself, being able to be alone whether alone with your own company, living alone or single for any significant period of time. To know something that you want and be able to say it AND go for it. This being that the most immature people I have ever met can’t stand to be alone, must have people around 24/7, must have a SO (even if they aren’t that significant),don’t know what they want and if they do they can’t even say it let alone go out and get it.

Now here is a story that makes me look silly, but the message is needed. I liked someone, thought they were great, they only lived an hour away from me. I went to visit them once a week, sometimes more and received promises of visits as soon as this was done or “when I’m not busy”. While receiving these lies I was also receiving sweet messages, assurance that they liked me BUT also no commitment. Now I still have no idea whether human actually liked me, if that was what they wanted or if they didn’t want me at all. I am perfectly happy not knowing. I am happy not knowing simply because even if I needed to know, this human would be incapable of telling me, they don’t know! This is a 28 year old human! From hearing of their past, I have realised that they just don’t know how to be alone.

Being alone is a skill and a rather useful one, now another example of a 28 year old human. This human knows how to be alone and also knows what they want AND how to go after it. You realise what you want in the absence of things.

Life is pretty simple at the end of the day, if you want something you go for it! Worst that can happen is it doesn’t happen. If it’s a person you like or you even THINK you like, just say it. If it’s a dream to do something everyone around you will laugh at or not understand, just do it ANYWAY. Find these opportunities because opportunities missed are the biggest regrets you will have.

For example, something I need to get past is I wanted to walk the Kokoda track when I was in grade 12, my year co ordinator (who actually had no idea) said I could not do it, I was refused because I didn’t want to play touch football after a theory lesson of REC. There was a LOT they did not know, I know have Ross River fever so the chances of me finishing a 96km hike now is ridiculous. This may seem like a poor example but this wrecks my self esteem whenever I think about it. This was the last time I let someone tell me what I can’t handle!

This lesson goes for doctors also anyone who tries to tell you about your body. My doctor tried to tell me I should not go off anti depressants. I have been off then for over 3 months now and my body likes me a lot better

So this blogpost will be on my experience of Queensland Youth Parliament Sitting week. I can write these words but nothing is like experiencing it. The week was a huge blur of little sleep, lost voices, many shames and bag puns which were still funny.

Queensland Youth Parliament consists of 93 humans (un)like myself (because they are all more academically inclined and much more motivated than myself) but all ready to make a difference in our state, some our world. This program is run for and by people aged 15-25 who show interest in politics.

The day of arrival was team building activities, not that the team of PIE (Primary Industries and Environment) needs building. Activities included a tower of straws and paper planes along with advertising campaigns to sell them. As a more serious activity we split into focus groups to talk about some big issues such as the LGBT+ community, homelessness and indigenous affairs. In the nighttime was a song and dance that had to do with our committee. We in PIE did Working Class Man with our lead Callan Daley killing the lip syncing.

Day 2 started with talks and different focus groups on our chosen topic from the day before. I chose LGBT+ issues, we got to have a great chat with a police officer about how the police force is moving forward and accepting the LGBT+ community. This was also the day we heard around 30 speeches for Youth Premier. I am almost ashamed to say I was crazy excited at the results. I was not only excited that our Prem was Sean but also that I was on Government to experience his leadership. The opposition was not lacking in leadership having voted in 2nd year Will. After a fantastic entrance by PIE into the arena, trivia was on. I don’t remember who one but I feel like PIE are always winners. Between rounds of questions were small games such as finding lollies in flour and shoving as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible. I myself happened to win the game of eating a dry weet bix first, not my proudest moment, I don’t even like weet bix. Later that night were the first caucus meetings for Parliament the next day.

Day 3 was our first day in Parliament, first the opening ceremony. Secondly a Matter of Public Importance, topic being Abortion. The debate and banter around this subject was a mix of funny yet serious. So many great points were made and some controversial ones but the end vote was females have a right to choose body autonomy. Private Member Statements next on a range of subjects including rape culture, suicide and mental health. Private Member Statements being a 2 minute speech on whatever topic a member might choose.

Day 4 which was day 2 of Parliament started with question time, as this was Youth Parliament our questions were not too serious. Our youth prem had given a great speech the day before about his LCM policy (I should probably mention our youth prem is more commonly known as the LCM kid). Gov decided early on that if we made fun of ourselves the oppo would have less ammunition. First question off the bat was about the LCM policy and the jokes didn’t stop there. It was the day we first debated a bill or three also. The amazing race which was played in committees, had 9 activities. While no team finished all 9, us in PIE finished 5 activities which makes us winners!

Day 5 started off with our Deputy Speaker as the member for Nanango (which I am the Youth Member for). After some controversial Private Member Statements and a bill. Next was a Matter of Public Importance on the topic of Alcohol Fuelled Violence, the Government had a plan to lower beer wine and cider drinking age to 16. A plan that was shot down in debate by the opposition but when it came time to vote, this and our 3 other great ideas as well as the Oppositions well thought out plan, TIED. This was a QYP first ladies and gents. Some Private Member Statements later and the National Matter of Public Importance was up for debate: Euthanasia. On Euthanasia there was not so much controversy and most agreed, like on the abortion MPI people voted for body autonomy. Thursday ended with a reception at Government house where the Youth Members met the Governor of Queensland.

Day 6 final day of Parliament. Slander was thrown like no other day on this our final day in the green room. The jokes started first up in Question time and ended right before the tears started during the closing ceremony. After dinner was a special QYP tradition (top secret) then onto the jungle dance. I thank everyone in PIE for comforting me when I found out my chicken died. Later in the night was the QYP talent show, the PIE committee came together for the last time for yet another great dance routine, the final bang. Late into the night and wee hours of the morning many of us spent writing warm and fuzzies (sickeningly cute notes) and chatting the night away.

Before leaving on the Saturday emotions were at the highest, many hugs shared, many tears shed and many feel good moments.

When you are in a place for a week where you eat the same food everyday, silly games become fun and you feel war cries are a part of everyday, you know you can’t stay too long! All of this sentimental crap brought to you by the person who cries at the end of How I Met Your Mother but NOT on the last day of QYP along with everyone else.

At the closing ceremony everyone kept telling us that QYP would change us, I really didn’t see how. I didn’t see how until I got home and I felt confident enough to put up my first youtube video with me in it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwoIm3hH0Y). I have always had no problems expressing how I feel and now I can ask others how they feel, QYP really has changed me.